The Conservative government is now committed to introducing some form of English votes for English laws as soon as possible. TheLabour Party and the wider progressive community have to react strategically. This paper discusses how developing localism and devolution, establishing a constitutional...

This thinkpiece examines the possibility of introducing one or more social wealth funds in the UK. Such funds would aim to capture some of the financial gains from the private ownership of capital and use the proceeds for wider community benefit, such as investment in social infrastructure,...

2015 was not like any other defeat. There are no safe places to go to, no easy answers and no comforting new leaders. There is only hard thinking in a process that must confront the party’s economic, political and cultural demons. Outside of Labour, progressive and radical politics is...

In this thinkpiece Ruth Lister explains why we need to move beyond statistics to understand the experience of poverty. She argues that we need to appreciate how people in poverty are 'othered' and as a result we need to truly acknowledge their agency.

This collection of short essays builds on thinking over the last few years – especially thinking in and around Labour and its policy review. The assembled authors share a trust in people to shape the state and see handing control over to people as essential to the redesign of the 21st Century...

This document serves as the policy detail appendices to the final report of the Compass Education Inquiry, ‘Big Education’. They provide more context, analysis and policy detail to the overview contained in that report.

Big Education: learning for the 21st century is the result of two years of conversations with students, teachers, parents, experts, members and supporters. The idea of ‘Big’ came to us as we surveyed the narrow, restricted and directed system of education we have – instead we wanted...

This short publication is designed for activists campaigning for environmental and social justice. It explains why sustainability, greater equality and social justice are interlinked and can only be achieved through a broader political project for a Good Society. In practical terms it aims to...

Labour isn’t just fighting to win on 7th May but is fighting for its long term survival. Greece, Spain and closer to home Scotland show what happens when social democratic parties disconnect with their core voters. Labour faces real electoral threats from insurgent parties of the Right and the...

New Times, a Compass publication dedicated to Stuart Hall and published to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, discusses the massive migration of agency from the vertical to the horizontal is and how it's transforming society and politics. Old, traditional hierarchies...

This new Compass publication, Reclaim Modernity, ignites a towering inferno of hope. It does so by calmly and clearly explaining that we are in a unique moment of history. The way the world is developing can be in tune with our values. We don’t have to fear modernity, or capitulate to it. It...

Riding the New Wave argues that Feminism can teach Labour valuable lessons about political participation and engagement outside the mainstream. In return, feminism stands to benefit from a healthier relationship with the party.

Are you writing for the Compass blog or one of our publications? We have put together a brief guide for how we'd like to our pieces to be structured. Compass is a political home for all who want to build a good society - more equal, sustainable and democratic - and who believe that how we...

Building Blocks: for a new political economy is the result of an ambitious project where we've attempted to join the dots of a new economy from the bottom up; from the enterprise, to the local, the national and up to the European.

[R]evolution Road – travelling the terrains of creativity, power and love is published in association with the Centre for Welfare Reform. The paper is about the authors journeys into being the change she wants to see in the world, creating changes within her self and the relationship between...

This is our vision for public rail. We want a railway system that works, is efficient, affordable and good for the planet. But we also want stations and trains that make us feel good about ourselves, our fellow passengers, those who build it and run it and our country as a whole. We need a...

We have been very busy over the last year conducting interviews, having seminars with students and experts as well as holding national and local events to get to the bottom of the question: How do we build a more equal and democratic model of education? We're pleased to present the interim...

This is a critical time for the future of the European Union and the U.K’s relationship with it. At this year’s European parliamentary elections and beyond it is vital that progressives offer a genuine alternative based on the principles of environmentalism and social justice. This short...

As ever we'd love your input, thoughts and reflections and we encourage you to comment below.

The Labour leadership contest forces Compass to think really hard about its political strategy. What do we want from this and what do we expect from it? The situation is complex, so if you want simple...

For what and for whom does the Labour Party stand? That has been – or at least should have been – a central question during the continuing post-mortem following the Election defeat. That question has now been thrown into sharp relief with the dispiriting fiasco of the party's response to the...

It is a great disappointment that Labour MPs have failed to provide leadership and voice on benefit cuts to defend the poorest and marginalised people. To take just one group of the working poor needing social security - families with more than two children on tax credits (the children of...

Labour has lost a lot of elections, and always wondered why. This has led to a whole literature of ‘why Labour lost’, highlights including the “affluent worker” debate, Crosland’s attempted redefinition of socialism, and Hobsbawm’s ‘Forward March of Labour Halted’. Against this...

The Progressive Narrative event organised by Compass West Midlands in Birmingham on Saturday was an ambitious event, in a low key way. A group of people came together in a theatre rehearsal room to try to do what one wealthy political party employs a shed load of expensive advisors to do –...

Soon, always soon, Capital dreams, I will be free of the need for politics … and free of the need for humans too … Capital’s realised utopia would be a burned-out planet full of fully-automated factories turning out shit that no-one wants to buy, with no-one left to buy it anyway, because...

Did Labour lose the election because it was too left wing? That’s become a standard explanation in right-wing newspapers and among some Labour commentators. But Hopi Sen – who sits on the right of the party and would be the first to complain about this sort of thing – has a

Eliane Glaser lays out six big questions for the left – social democrats, radicals and the new ‘soft’ left alike. After four decades of neoliberal domination, she says, now is not the time to be shy of debate.

Earlier this year, I organised a two-day conference on ‘Post-politics and...

What do children do to make themselves poor? And how we can we stop them doing it? It looks very bad having to announce that their numbers are growing (a 200,000 increase to 2.5 million children, the first rise in 10 years) so something should be done. About the figures, not the children or...

Le Tour is now as much a fixture of the Great British Sporting Summer as Wimbledon strawberries and cream, a flutter on the Derby, England’s bi-annual early exit from a Euro or a World Cup and the five-day drama of an Ashes Test,...

In the aftermath of the 2015 election, much of the commentary centred on the Labour Party’s failure to speak to the ‘aspiration’ of voters to secure better lives for themselves and their families. Aspiration is fast becoming the dominant term around which narratives of political renewal...

Have a read of what happened in the open space groups at our London post election gathering in May and get involved in whatever way you can - some wonderful things taking shape. Please email Jacqui at jacqui@compassonline.org.uk and I'll put you in touch!

All On Board is a campaign for everyone who wants to make our railways work better

We live in an amazing country full of wonderful people and incredible places. It should be everyone’s right to get around it: to travel to and from our home or work, to see the people we love and all the...

Everyone is welcome to join our very first local meeting in South West Surrey to have a warm and open about what we can do as Compass members or supporters and how we will do it.
When: Saturday 18 July, 10am - 12:15pm
Where: Unitarian Hall in Meadrow, Godalming GU7 3JB
We will open...

Join Compass Newham and Newham Fabians for a discussion on different voting systems, with Francis Prideaux (Campaign for Labour Party Democracy) and Rachel Collinson (Green Party), chaired by John Saunders.

Welcome to join for an informal chat with people in Brighton and Hove to have to begin the conversation starting to build new progressive politics and alliances in Brighton and Hove and explore the idea of organising a Radical Hope event for the city (see the London event here for an idea of...

Join us for a post-election gathering in Birmingham - everyone is welcome!

Whatever the outcome of the General Election, politics needs to be transformed to go beyond fear and tribalism over small differences. It needs to be transformed to address growing inequality and climate change. The...

SOLD OUT!Saturday May 16th - London
Now more than ever we need to come together to reflect, to understand and to connect – as individuals and as a progressive movement. This is a time for deep thinking and bringing radical hope to life by figuring out our next steps...

Compass Taunton is holding an election debate at our last meeting before May 7th. This is a chance to ask questions and scrutinise Taunton's General Election candidates on the centre and left.
All are welcome to attend and there will also be an opportunity to raise any issues or...

For 18 months Compass, working with the NUT and a whole host of stakeholders have been examining the purpose and practice of education for 21st century. Please join us to discuss and debate the final report Big Education: learning for 21st century.